WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2!Since I have never playedThe Last of Us’ games, I have no idea where season 2’s story is heading after Joel’s death, but I do have some predictions. It’s difficult to avoid spoilers for a franchise as big asThe Last of Ustoday, so I didn’t go into seasons 1 and 2 completely blind about what would happen to certain characters. However, heading intoThe Last of Usseason 2,the only major spoiler that I knew beforehand was that Joel would be brutally murdered, and that a significant portion of gamershated Abby for killing him.
Considering Pedro Pascal and Joel have been huge draws for the HBO adaptation, I thoughtThe Last of Usmight save his death until season 2’s ending. However,Joel’s death happened much sooner at the end of episode 2, leaving me without any known upcoming plot details for this season or the already-confirmedThe Last of Usseason 3. Still, given the themes of the franchise and what’s already been set up byThe Last of Usseason 2, episode 2’s ending,I have some theories about what will happen to Ellie, Abby, Dina, and Tommyin the show’s future.
Ellie Will Follow Abby To Seattle But Won’t End Up Killing Her
I Think Ellie Will End The Cycle Of Violence & Revenge
Following Joel’s death, it’s plain to see thatThe Last of Usseason 2 is sending Ellie on a dark path fueled by revenge, hatred, pain, and guilt. Ellie and Joel’s relationship had been strained over the five years afterThe Last of Usseason 1’s ending, but they both still cared about each other in a father-daughter type of dynamic. As such, the pain of watching Joel be cruelly murdered while trying to get up for her is going to make her reaction to his death that much more intense.
Abby didn’t just take Joel away from Ellie, she took away Ellie’s ability to reconnect with him and fix their relationship. She’s going to continue carrying the guilt of not mending their relationship with her, andEllie will fuel that anger and pain into something tangible: a mission to kill Abby. Just like howAbby dealt with the pain of Joel murdering her fatherby tracking him down and killing him, I believeThe Last of Uswill similarly send Ellie on a path of dedicating her life to getting revenge on the person who killed Joel.
We know that Abby and her friends will be headed back to Seattle after Joel’s death. Since the destruction of Jackson, Wyoming byThe Last of Usseason 2, season 2’s infected hordemight make supporting such a large population more difficult, I think Ellie will choose to lighten the load by setting out for Seattle. Thepreview forThe Last of Usseason 2, episode 3 already shows Ellie training in fighting and building up her strength, so I believe she’ll still spend at least a few weeks or months in Jackson before going northwest.
While I have no idea what the timeline looks like forThe Last of Us: Part IIgame, the fact that HBO is splitting the story into two seasons suggests it’ll cover a long period of time.I think it might take Ellie until close toThe Last of Usseason 2’s ending to find and confront Abby’s group, with season 3 focusing on the real showdown between the two. Since Ellie is essentially heading on the same path that Abby was on before killing Joel, I assume that Ellie will eventually have the upper hand on Abby in Seattle.
In the end, I think she’ll spare Abby, ending that cycle of violence and cruelty as an outlet for grief and pain.
However,I don’t think Ellie will go through with killing Abby. One ofThe Last of Us’ major themes is the relationship between violence, pain, grief, and revenge, and how that becomes a cruel cycle in a lawless apocalyptic world. Abby succumbed to her hatred and rage when she killed Joel, but Joel’s relationship with Ellie has taught her to embrace love and forgiveness.If Ellie kills Abby, she won’t be honoring Joel’s memory. Joel would never want that. In the end, I think she’ll spare Abby, ending that cycle of violence and cruelty as an outlet for grief and pain.
Ellie & Dina Will Get Together, But Dina Will Die Before Ellie Faces Abby
Ellie Will Likely Face Another Brutal Tragedy Before She Has The Chance To Kill Abby
After the pair kissed inThe Last of Usseason 2, episode 1, it looks like the series issetting up Ellie and Dina to become a couplein future episodes. While Ellie will likely isolate herself as she grieves Joel and puts all her focus toward getting revenge on Abby, Dina will be dealing with her own traumas after being drugged by Abby’s group. They might push each other away at first, but I think that Ellie and Dina will officially start dating beforeThe Last of Usseason 2 ends.
However, with tragedy being almost inevitable inThe Last of Us’ world, there has to be one more major setback before Ellie finally confronts Abby. Sadly, I think that’ll be Dina. Ellie and Dina will likely travel to Seattle together to confront Abby, but either on the way to Seattle or once they’ve already gotten there, I predict that Dina will die. Whether she’s killed by one ofThe Last of Us’ infected variantsor by another person,I think Dina’s death will fuel Ellie’s anger at Abby further, but ultimately still guide her toward forgiveness.
Jackson, Wyoming Will Be Inhospitable & Tommy Will Die While Protecting His Wife & Son
I Predict Tommy Will Sacrifice Himself To Save The Next Generation
I also predict that Jackson, Wyoming won’t be able to fully recover from the infected attack they just experienced inThe Last of Usseason 2, episode 2. Whether certain families move onward or they find that Jackson has simply become inhospitable,I think Joel’s brother Tommy will have to pack up his family and movearound the same time that Ellie heads for Seattle.
The filming location for Jackson, Wyoming inThe Last of Usseason 2 was actually in British Columbia, Canada.
Sadly, I predict that while Tommy is trying to leave Jackson or while he’s settling in a new location, he’ll die trying to protect his wife,Maria, and their son, Benjamin, from infected.As tragic as Tommy’s death would be, I think he’ll become more focused on saving the next generation of humanity over himself, which includes Ellie and his son. It would be thematically fitting if, toward the end ofThe Last of Us’ story, Ellie and Benjamin were the ones carrying on the legacies of Joel and Tommy while working to save humanity.
Ellie Will Sacrifice Herself To Help Create A Vaccine For The Infection
Ellie Might Still Survive Creating The Cure
Though Joel slaughtered the Fireflies in order to save Ellie from being sacrificed inThe Last of Us’ season 1 finale,I think she’ll eventually still opt to give her life to create a vaccineto protect against the infected.Ellie has spent years contending with her immunityand the bigger purpose behind why she’s been able to survive while everyone around her has died. After sparing Abby, I think Ellie will continue to make sacrifices by trying to give her life to save the future of humanity.
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If my prediction is correct, then Ellie will help create a vaccine againstThe Last of Us’ infection. However, I’m not sold on the idea that she’ll die. The Fireflies thought they needed to kill Ellie to investigate the source of her immunity and try to extract it for a cure, but their method may not have been the only way to accomplish a vaccine.I believe Ellie will agree to be sacrificed and potentially die to create the vaccine, but she’ll ultimately live, ushering in a new era of hope inThe Last of Us’ apocalyptic world.
